Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Fire expected to spread

Firefighters gained no ground overnight on a 1,500-acre fire at Mount Charleston that started Monday afternoon, and fire officials expected to see the fire grow today.

Fire incident commander Larry Benham of the U.S. Forest Service said this morning that the fire hadn't grown Monday night but hadn't been contained either. Fire officials were concerned about heat and winds today that could spread the fire.

A task force from California came to Mount Charleston this morning and aircraft resumed attacking the fire. There were 120 firefighters on the mountain this morning with more expected.

The so-called Robber's Fire, named for Robber's Roost on Mount Charleston, started when a truck overturned and exploded Monday. Brush along the road then caught fire.

"This is the fire we didn't want," Assistant Forest Service Chief Mark Blankensop said. "It's in an extremely rocky area and if it gets into the canyon there's a heap of fuel."

Officials are prepared to evacuate more than 400 homes in Kyle Canyon today if flames leap Fletcher Peak ridge, 35 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

About 65 residents of Kyle Canyon, south of the fire, attended an hourlong meeting with federal, state and local fire officials Monday night to prepare for evacuation orders. Fire officials said it was safe to stay on the mountain overnight as southwest winds died down and the flames smoldered about 2 miles away in rugged, steep canyons between Fletcher Trail and Mummy Mountain.

Firefighters and Metro Police evacuated eight residences in Deer Creek and Camp Stimpson as well as a Girl Scout camp and the Spring Mountain Youth Camp. The evacuations totalled about 100 people.

Metro Police will have 50 officers ready to escort the remaining residents off the mountain early today, Clark County Deputy Fire Chief William Kourim said.

The evacuation order for most residences has been voluntary.

Many summer residents on Mount Charleston didn't wait for a mandatory order for evacuation that could come as soon as today.

Jim Dunn, a 15-year resident on the mountain, waited by the side of the road for a horse trailer to take his Arabian gelding, Grenada, and Appaloosa, Peavy, out of harm's way.

"It's our worst nightmare," Dunn said. "I was ready to ride the horses off the mountain and we are just waiting out of the canyon here."

Joe and Toni Zanni watched the smoke rise from the canyon as they left their cabin in Rainbow Canyon, south of the flames.

"We don't want to stay up another night," Joe Zanni, a retired Las Vegas lounge musician, said, turning his head to check on the couple's pet poodle inside their air-conditioned car.

"We're not going to take a chance," Toni Zanni said.

Gary Tomashowski packed his three children and two Yorkshire terriers into his SUV and fled the Rainbow subdivision, too.

"I've got the bare minimum," Tomashowski said, ticking off the kids, the pets and a small box of important documents. "We could be very unlucky up here. This is not the least windy day we've had."

Ralph Hamilton, a retired stagehand who has lived in Kyle Canyon for 36 years, drove from his home this morning in his Subaru with his two dogs, Gandolf a Doberman pinscher and a golden retriever named Harley, to survey the fire. Having seen half a dozen fires during his time in Kyle Canyon,

Hamilton said this one looked "pretty bad" but he had no intention of leaving his home.

"This is not the first fire I've seen, and it's not the last," he said this morning.

For Becky Grismanauskas, whose husband, Duffy, was the first firefighter to respond to the brush fire caused by a rollover accident on State Route 158, six cat cages stood ready, along with a single box of documents.

"I'm ready," she said, after spending the morning watering the gardens around their mountain home in Kyle Canyon.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized firefighting funds for the uncontrolled Robber fire, Michael D. Brown, under secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, said about 5 p.m. Monday. The state request came an hour earlier and will pay for 75 percent of the state's eligible firefighting and emergency response costs.

Benham said that a national fire crew of up to 300 firefighters would be on the mountain by 6 p.m. today, as soon as firefighters battling blazes in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Alaska can arrive at the remote and rugged terrain.

Two P-3 Orion fire tankers that can hold up to 2,800 gallons of water will attack the flames on the ridge, firefighter Lee Nelson said. One is coming from San Bernardino, Calif., the other from Cedar City, Utah, he said.

About 20 firefighters fought the flames through the night along State Route 158, also known as Deer Creek Road, as the fire burned northwest.

A total of 100 firefighters attacked the blaze as it raged out of control after igniting about 12:30 p.m. Monday.

Blankensop had just returned over the weekend from fighting the Carson City Clear Water fire.

A 5-year drought, early snowmelt in the Spring Mountains, no rain and changing winds helped fuel the fire, making it particularly difficult for two helicopters and an air tanker to subdue the fire Monday afternoon, Blankensop said.

"It's the perfect conditions for a fire to run," Kourim said.

Robert Vaught, U.S. Forest Service supervisor for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, was in command Monday night.

"We have to wait and see what the fire does when the sun comes up and heats things up," Vaught said. "It didn't look good this afternoon, it looks better tonight, but we have to wait and see."

The fire ignited when a flat-bed truck filled with flag stones lost its brakes heading south on State Route 158, according to Grismanauskas.

The 37-year-old female driver, Christine Teddy of Las Vegas, said she feared plowing over the steep drop on the east side of the road, so she headed for one of the gravel clearings common along the winding road.

The truck overturned and Teddy escaped before the gas tank exploded in a fireball, firefighter Grismanauskas said. She was taken to Mountain View Hospital, treated and released with bruises on her legs and arms. She was conscious, able to walk a couple of steps to the ambulance gurney, and talking as the American Medical Response crew covered her with a sheet.

The Nevada Highway Patrol is investigating the accident, Trooper Angie Wolff Chavera said.

The driver could be fined for part of the cost of the fire, although the investigation had not been completed as of Monday night, Trooper Loy Nixson said.

Initially, one volunteer fire truck from Mount Charleston responded to the half-acre fire that, fanned by afternoon winds, quickly spread up the mountain.

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